S T R A Y
by Brice Smudar
Summary: With Mephiles the Dark's resurrection taking effect and a new, unwanted human character appearing on Mobius from a seperate Earth, Sonic and co. must deal with Eggman, horrifying monsters, and a Mary Sue working together to screw up their lives.
1. Flashbang

**_Author's Note: Oh lord. I'm back. Hopefully ya'll have missed me in my extended absence from this site : D. For those of you who don't know, this story, "Stray," is a remake of my earlier story "Reverse Psychology," which sucked. So don't read the old one and read this one : D. Also, review please. Review review review. Thank GlassSuicune and Lupus Silvae for betareading this. _**

**_On with the story._**

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Weak, rosy shafts of sunlight shone through the boughs of the wide-leaved trees, reflecting off droplets of moisture in the air from the humidity. The sun slowly sank behind the horizon, its reddening light glowing through the jungle foliage, lighting up the veins and capillaries in the leaves. Silhouettes of frogs and insects stood out on the leaves like shadow puppets on a green canvas as they hopped and scattered towards their homes before the nocturnal predators awoke. Night time didn't signal an end to the jungle's day; it was merely a continuation of perpetual activity between the insects, the frogs, the salamanders, the howler monkeys, and the one lone sentient Echidna who lived amongst them.

Within a grassy copse laid an ancient, moldering stone gazebo, the eroding pillars coated with moss and lichen. The covered platform sat stoutly on a small, Echidnan-made knoll, whose surface was still covered with archaic petroglyphs if one dug deep enough to find them. Seven vine-strewn columns stood around the gazebo that looked ready to fall over at the slightest breeze from age. Within the center of the gazebo stood an enormous green crystal, who's radiating light quickly began to outshine the dying rays of the sun, illuminating the clearing in a jade corona.

Knuckles sat with his back against a supportive pillar near the Master Emerald's base, his head slowly nodding towards his chest before quickly popping back up again, trying to keep himself awake. He'd been guarding the Emerald non-stop and without sleep for the past three days, and his fatigue was quickly catching up with him. Usually the Master Emerald just sat there, motionless, yet very much alive as it pondered the goings-on of Angel Island and its environs, making little notes in its transparent fractal center and shifting its facets around to tally the floating Island's course. But gradually, its patterns changed, it's light giving off a harsher glow than normal and making Knuckles' flesh burn if he was too close. The systematic and symmetrical patterns and shapes inside the Master Emerald became tangled and disorganized like a bothered spiderweb. Worried, he resolved to stare at the Master Emerald day in and day out, noting it's increasingly bizarre behavior.

His head abruptly whipped back up, startled by a loud sizzling noise. A steaming moth fell off of the Master Emerald's surface, fried to a crisp by the gem. Knuckles sighed, furrowing his brow. Every night since the Master Emerald had changed the type of light it emitted, thousands of insects were attracted to it like an enormous bug zapper. And just like a bug zapper, the Emerald's sicklier light grilled any and all incoming bugs. Knuckles scooted back away from the Emerald, not wanting to be pelted with ricocheting pieces of charred moths and the occasional fruit bat. Soon enough, the familiar _bzzzzzt, ZAP, ssssszzzzzi_ng sounds popped up on all sides of the gazebo as the stupid bugs failed to notice the corpses of their fallen comrades as they zoomed headlong to their deaths.

He grumbled to himself as a swarm of particularly fat beetles smashed on the worn flagstones of the gazebo's floor. He liked to keep the shrine clean, and he didn't want to have to sweep away piles of dead bugs. Why was the Master Emerald doing this? Was it dying? Was it sick? What was he supposed to do to help? Was it normal for the Emerald to go through a phase like this? Never in his life as a Guardian had he seen or heard of the Master Emerald going nuts as it was right now. His train of thought was interrupted as a colorful parrot swooped down out of the jungle's fringes, its skull colliding with the Emerald's surface with a sickening _whack_. Very dazed and possibly brain damaged, the parrot picked itself back up and flew lopsidedly out of the gazebo. _At this rate,_ Knuckles thought, _I won't even need to guard the Emerald. It seems to be doing a pretty good job of keeping pests away. _His head lowered again, his eyelids begging for him to shut them with the chorus of dying bugs almost soothing him to sleep.

He frowned as his flesh started to burn again, the Master Emerald's rays scalding through his short fur. He had hoped that the column he was leaning against would be far enough away from the Emerald's glare before he was burnt. He huffed a sigh as he stood up and backed up out of the crystal's range, rubbing his arms soothingly to cool them down from the heated energy. He paused, feeling the front of his torso and muzzle begin to burn as well. _Dang, how far back do I need to move?_ He took a few more steps back, his heel knocking a few loose pebbles off the side of the stone platform. Nope, no good. He was still getting burned. Knuckles frowned, stepping down with one foot on the grassy hill and the other still on the pedestal. Was this it? Was this the final meltdown? He was standing as far away as possible from the Master Emerald without leaving the gazebo, yet he could still feel his skin being singed.

There was a whistling, popping noise as the carcasses of dead bugs closer to the Emerald burst into flame, their guts boiling into steam and bursting their carapaces. Knuckles wrinkled his nose in distaste, and was finally forced to step completely off of the platform as the burning sensation became painful. His grimace turned into a shocked expression as water began hissing out of the flagstones close to the Emerald, short jets of steam poking up from the cracks. The moss that had accumulated between stones began to turn crisp and dry, before finally flaking away and drifting off into the night as flaming ashes. The plaster that held the stones together began to chip and flake as well as the Master Emerald's light became painful to look at. It slowly began to revolve on its pointed base, its light oscillating in sickly, piercing waves that practically cooked the surrounding stone and granite. The bodies of the dead insects vaporized completely into a glittery powder, and looser chunks of rock began to rise up from the ground. Knuckles covered his eyes, loosening the grip between his feet and the slope of the hill to allow him to slide down the damp grass to the bottom, away from the Emerald's violent rays.

The gigantic jewel rose off the ground in a pained jerking motion, its blazing energy pushing the grass down flat and blowing Knuckles' quills back over his shoulders. The Emerald careened over on its side, a few stray arcs of green electricity sparking off of its surface before bursting into a comet, the entire mass igniting and hurling itself into the early evening sky, leaving Knuckles half-blind from the afterglow burned into his eyes. He growled and rubbed them with his fists, before turning his attention up towards the sky again. The Master Emerald left a clear green aurora, a perfect trail. He huffed once more as he began running towards the edge of his floating Island, his quills fanning out as ran, his eyes following the shimmering path in the air.

...

Strong, blazing quartz lights bore down through the millions of windows and advertisements, reflecting off of the chrome skyscrapers and glass towers that formed Station Square. The sun slowly sank behind the horizon, its reddening light igniting the smog and pollution that accumulated from the cars and chimneys. Silhouettes of pedestrians and cars flashed and sped by amid the polar-white glare of the commercial screens and headlights. Night time didn't signal an end to the city's day; it was merely a continuation of perpetual activity between the humans, the sentient Animals, the criminals, the occasional robot, and the one blue Hedgehog that raced among them.

Sonic ran through the lane of traffic, keeping a slow 65 mile-per-hour jog, the red taillights of cars blurring into scarlet streaks as he passed them. A car behind him honked loudly, urging him to get off of the road and onto the sidewalk like a normal person. Sonic turned to face them, running backwards at the same speed as the offending car and stuck his tongue out at them. The man in the car grimaced, and Sonic laughed, speeding up ahead of him so that he could merge into the proper lane.

Two shipping trucks drove alongside each other up ahead, forming a long narrow gap between them. Sonic's already-present grin grew broader as he jumped up, bounced off of the springy yellow roof of a taxicab and curled into a tight ball. He dove in between the two trucks, wildly bouncing between their metal sides like a trapped pinball before launching out on top of one of them. He looked around, craning his neck to spot the street signs to regain his bearings. After spotting the name of the avenue he'd been heading for, he reached up and grabbed an overhanging street light, swinging around and around on it like a gymnast and catapulted off, bending into a ball again as he landed in Station Square Plaza, rolling across the ground in a bright blue blur around pedestrians and street performers. His speed kicked up a strong gust of wind that ruffled up an attractive Fox's skirt, making her blush.

Sonic snickered as he rolled to a halt, quickly standing up on his feet at the base of a circular fountain. He sighed and sat on the concrete rim, tossing his legs up next to him and lying back with his hands behind his head. The cool water vapor from the fountain washed over his face, making his muzzle grow damp. Sonic loved to sleep next to fountains, especially in warm weather like tonight when the heat could get a bit stifling. And since he usually slept in public places, he was always open on display to his fans. He smirked and rolled onto his side. There were quite a lot of people in the Plaza tonight, but that wasn't unusual. Sonic narrowed his eyes slightly as he began to count down, knowing that he'd be noticed any second as The Mobian Hero, The Blue Blur, the Fastest Thing Alive...

_3...2...1..._

"Hey, is that Sonic?" somebody asked. A few heads turned.

"Yeah, you know what, I think it is!"

More heads turned.

"Holy cow, is it really him for _real_?"

"It is!"

"Margaret, get your camera ready!"

Sonic sat up, his tail wagging slightly as a mob of human and Animal fans swarmed around him, chattering excitedly and whipping out their cell phones to take up-close pictures to post on their blogs.

"Sonic, can I have an autograph?" A thirty-something woman asked, holding out a t-shirt she'd bought at a street vendor.

"Sure, you got a pen?" he replied. "That's okay, I've already got one." He pulled a matching blue pen (with his face on it, no less) out from behind his quills and quickly scribbled his name. "Who's next?"

The mob went nuts as people began thrusting their purses and hats towards him to be autographed, while those on the fringes of the crowd ran to vendors to purchase more useless souvenirs for Sonic to sign.

"Relax, people. I'm not goin' anywhere. Who wants a picture?" he asked. Those who were female and under the age of 40 squealed in delight at the prospect of getting to take a picture with him. He laughed and patted the space next to him on the fountain's ledge for someone to sit in. An elderly lady stooped down and sat next him, her grandchildren beaming as they held a digital camera up to snap a photo. Sonic gave a pained smile, hoping that he would've taken a picture with a younger fan, but he let them take a picture just the same.

"Alright, who's next--" _FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFKRSHBOOOOOOM_

An enormous green light blasted across the sky like a meteorite and smashed into the largest jumbotron advertisement screen, right above the plaza. Plastic and sparks rained down from from the ruined jumbotron as it began to sag, the Master Emerald having knocked it right off of its support cables. The screen slowly detached from the face of the building it was affixed to, its remaining cables snapping apart and allowing it to fall to the granite plaza floor. Sonic gritted his teeth, hoping that the people underneath had gotten out of the way in time before the jumbotron collapsed. He quickly scrambled to his feet, darting through the frightened crowd that stood staring agape at the burning crater in the building that the Master Emerald had created.

Sonic sprinted out onto the street, grabbing another streetlight to swing around a sharp corner and flung himself through the revolving doors of the damaged building. It was an office building, with a simple low-ceilinged lobby and receptionist's desk forming the back wall. Janitors and miscellaneous cubicle workers were frantically running out of stairwell doors, none of them noticing Sonic as he stood in the center of the room. He put aside his annoyance of not being noticed for a second as he noticed that none of the elevators were being used. Perhaps the Emerald's crash cut the power to the upper levels of the building?

Sonic turned around again, tensing up as one of the glass side doors near the revolving lobby entrance shattered. Knuckles shrugged through the jagged hole he'd created, the revolving door apparently being too confusing for him to enter through. Sonic relaxed and winked at him.

"Rough day?" he asked.

"Oh, you know. The usual."

"Egghead behind this?"

Knuckles shook his head. "I don't think so. The Master Emerald's been acting weird for a few days. It finally did something major tonight."

The building shook, a deep rumble emanating from the elevator shaft and loosening a ceiling tile, which fell on Sonic's head. "You don't say." he grumbled, dusting off his head with a gloved hand.

"I saw it hit the building and knock that big screen over," Knuckles explained, "But I didn't see it go through the other side. Did you?"

"Nope. I think it's still in here. Or, well, in _there_." He jabbed a thumb towards the elevator doors, which had begun to rattle in their metal casings noisily like cookie sheets. "Nobody was using the elevator to get down here. I'm gonna assume that something was messing with them to make them faulty. Who knows, some people might still be stuck in the elevators, if they haven't fallen yet.

Knuckles bolted towards the nearest set of elevator doors, punching his spiked mitt through it and tearing the metal apart. The doors screeched in protest before being ripped from the wall and casually tossed over his shoulder. Without bothering to peek inside the shaft, Knuckles ran headlong into it. He promptly vanished, falling downward into the basement level.

"I forgot to mention that there's a basement level here." Sonic called, walking up to the elevator entrance. He looked down, the square shaft bathed in a red glow from the emergency lights towards the bottom, which contrasted with the familiar green glimmer of the Master Emerald at the top. Knuckles got up from his sore rear, wincing as he looked up to scowl at him. Sonic skillfully jumped down, landing on his feet with a small puff of dust and plaster. Hunks of concrete and mortar the size of beach balls littered the shaft's floor, and exposed pipes ran up the sides that were bolted to the colorless brick wall. They both looked up and saw the crater in the shaft's side, and the Master Emerald floating right next to it. The elevator car was towards the top as well, a black rusty rectangle fixed solidly to a stout cable, the Emerald's collision apparently not knocking it down.

"Sooo....is everything cool now?" Sonic asked, glancing up at the Emerald. "Is it still gonna freak out on us?"

"Nah, I don't think so." Knuckles said, shrugging. "I think it wore itself out when it burst---MOVE!" he roared, shoving Sonic into the corner.

There was a brilliant green flash that highlighted the entire shaft, before quickly turning red, then blue, then orange, then yellow, then purple, over and over in quick succession before turning white. There was a massive rush of displaced air and a loud screech of metal on metal as the elevator finally collapsed, rushing downward towards the basement in a shower of hot orange sparks. It hit the concrete floor with a tremendous crash that coated Sonic and Knuckles with dust, and caused more sheets of the ceiling to come down with it. Slowly, like a falling umbrella, the Master Emerald drifted downwards back to the ground, apparently having gone back to its normal state, its pointed end barely touching the cracked floor. Knuckles ran to the gem, now dusted with the grey-white residue from the plaster and placed both palms on it, caressing and whispering frantically to it like a cowboy would to a frightened horse.

Sonic quirked an eyebrow, never having been able to understand the odd relationship between Knuckles and the Master Emerald. He stood up and coughed some of the dust out of his lungs, and walked up to the elevator. Smoke and dust wafted out from the warped metal, which had bunched up like an accordion towards the bottom of the car. He paused, shocked to find that the buttons were still glowing. He looked back over at Knuckles, who was now hugging the Master Emerald gleefully, and knew better than to ask him a question at the moment. He tilted his head back up to look at the crater in the side of the shaft again, but gasped; the elevator car was still up there, just as it had been a few moments ago. Then what was the second elevator doing on the floor? There was only room for one car in the shaft, and the elevator that had crashed had different paneling and rivets. They didn't match. Without thinking, he jabbed one of the glowing buttons. There was a soft 'ding' noise, and the doors creaked open.

His stomach lurched when he saw a small body huddled in the corner of the car, the flickering light-bulb inside only making it look sicklier. He sighed, his forehead creasing as he looked away.

"Hey, Knux, someone was in here."

Knuckles halted his reunion with the Emerald. "Hm? What?"

"I said--"

He was interrupted by a small cough, then a rustling noise, then a thud from inside the elevator.

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**Author's Note: Oh snap. Looks like Sonic isn't very good at distinguishing dead people from living people. Hoped you like the chapter, and depending on how many people like this story, I'll continue it. Review review review review review. And, review. **


	2. Attention Hog

_**A/N: Yay chapter two. A CHALLENGER APPROACHES! OMFGBBQONTWOSTICKS!**_

_**I think you're going to hate me for this chapter.**_

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It was a ripple.

A nudge.

A domino effect.

A mass of centrifugal force, unwinding from a core of condensed energy.

A hole punched through two separate, adjacent bubbles of consciousness, their thin, rubbery membranes leaking transdimensional vapor and minute particles, noticed by no one.

And through the membrane came the tiniest flame, a mere spark of the inferno of what it had once been.

But that was all He needed. Just a spark. That's all it would take. He could provide the tinder to ignite the flame, if necessary.

He would've cracked his knuckles in anticipation, if he had knuckles at all. He was ready for the spark. He knew He wouldn't have to wait long in _here_, in this infernal, sunless prison. Not that He was overly fond of the sun in the first place.

But yes. Oh yes. He was ready. He pressed up against the glass, staring hungrily at his would-be captor. Had his captor noticed yet? Had he noticed the ripple? The tremor?

His captor's giant ginger mustache quivered. Yes. His captor had noticed the quake. It wouldn't be long now until that flame was in his reach, in his grasp, ready to connect with Him and undo the damage that blasted blue Hedgehog had done to him...

...

Both Sonic and Knuckles raised an eyebrow in synchronization, neither one of them moving for a moment. There was another rustling sound, like cotton cloth being dragged against the linoleum floor of the fallen elevator car. Spurred by the noise, both of them peeked inside, wary of the apparently-not-all-that-dead person.

A small human boy staggered up to his feet, using the wall rail to prop himself up. His black hooded jacket was dusted with fine white sheetrock that had fluttered down from the car's ceiling, and his dark hair was similarly dirtied. A bloodied bruise was developing near his temple where his head struck the floor at the elevator's impact. A hand was up against his bleeding forehead, half-cradling it in his palm as he clenched his eyes shut, not yet ready to take in the bright elevator light. He brought his hand back down to his eye level and jumped when he saw the blood smeared onto his palm. The jump was significantly more pronounced when Sonic cleared his throat.

"Um...hey there, little guy. Need some help?" Sonic asked, his voice taking on a harmless, cheery tone. Knuckles rolled his eyes, backing up out of Sonic's way and walking back to the Master Emerald. They boy watched him leave, then looked back at Sonic. He nodded.

"Just come on out here." Sonic said, jabbing his thumb towards the outside of the car. There was obvious hesitation as the boy looked back and forth between Sonic and the open door before tentatively walking out into the dark elevator shaft. He looked around in confusion, evidently not expecting his elevator car to be completely derailed and sitting in the bottom of a concrete hole.

Knuckles had the gigantic Emerald hoisted up onto his back, lifting it up as easily as if it were made of Styrofoam.

"Alright, let's get out of here. Don't want Angel Island falling down again." he said.

"Erm, wait a minute, what about him?" Sonic asked, pointing to the human.

"Oh, right." Adopting a stern expression, Knuckles approached him and got right up in his face. "Eat your vegetables." As if this constituted as helpful advice, Knuckles strutted away and climbed up the brick face of the shaft's wall, pulled himself up through the open elevator doors on the floor above, and left. The shaft was much darker and grimmer without the Master Emerald's glow.

"You'll have to excuse him; his people skills are a little lacking." Sonic said. "So, um...looks like you've got a bump on your head,"

The boy's hand flew up to his bruise again as if suddenly remembering that he had a head injury.

"Don't worry, I don't think it's serious. Let's just get you to the hospital, and then to your parents, alright?" Sonic assured. The boy nodded again.

_Jeez, chatterbox. Tone down the volume, _Sonic thought.

The outside air was heavy with congested taxis and pedestrians, which had grouped around the damaged building like a scab, clotting off the artery of city traffic. Police officers had begun to section off the building with glossy yellow hazard tape as firefighters escorted the last few limping janitors and maintenance staff out of the area.

Sonic stood in the lobby, just barely peeking out of the glass revolving door to assess what was going on outside. Floodlights from the police cars shone straight in through the glass, the shadows caused by the cracks from Knuckles' entrance making a spiderweb pattern over Sonic's torso.

"Shoot." he said. "I was hoping we wouldn't get a big crowd. It's gonna be a madhouse trying to get you out of here." The human shifted nervously from foot to foot, the flashing police lights and the heavy mass of people outside agitating him. "Hey, relax. I'll get you the hospital, I promise."

Sonic took him by the wrist and gave it a small, reassuring squeeze before walking outside. He had hoped that he'd be able to get away from his fans before he was spotted, but almost immediately, there was a loud cheer as the mob turned to focus on him, cameras and cellphones flashing like strobe lights. Sonic winced and gave them all his characteristic thumbs-up gesture, and was met by an even more intense wave of flashing cameras, enough to rival the spastic Master Emerald. A slender, haughty-looking woman pushed and shoved her way through the crowd, a large microphone clutched in her hand that she used to beat off the surrounding people in her way, closely tailed by a camera man. Had the human kid not weighed him down, Sonic would've quickly escaped her before she spotted him. Panting with effort and hastily fixing her short skirt, she walked up to Sonic and fixed him a glare.

"Going somewhere, Sonic?" she asked, flicking on her microphone. "You know we have a news segment tonight."

"What's up, Scarlett?" Sonic asked the reporter, winking. "Can't talk right now, I've gotta get to the hospital. Maybe some other time—"

"Need I remind you that you're under contract with Station Square News to appear at least once a week in a news segment?" she asked, quickly reapplying her lipstick in a compact mirror. "You know the drill; smile and wave, say what I want you to say, and you've got a guaranteed spot on the 9 o'clock news and a fat check in the mail. Capiche?"

"Please, Scarlett? Look at this kid." He placed both hands on the human's shoulders and moved him in front, pointing the cut on his head. "Can you say no to this face?"

"Sonic, I said _no_ to reporting a story on a truckfull of abandoned orphaned children in favor of appearing on a talk show last week. Needy injured children sob stories are totally overdone these days. The public wants superheroes, and you're gonna deliver."

Sonic's ears folded back as he sighed. He turned the kid around to face him. "Sorry, but I gotta do this. I promise it won't take long, and I'll get you to the hospital as soon as it's over. Okay?"

The human thought about it, looking down at his feet, then over at Scarlett, then back at Sonic, before nodding again.

"Thanks, bud." Sonic said, patting his shoulder.

"Alright, Adam's introducing us in the studio." Scarlett announced. "Everyone ready? Good." She looked over their heads for a moment as she listened to her earpiece, the news anchors back in the newsroom now introducing her before starting her segment. "Thanks Adam. I'm here live in front of GUN's PR building, which is the site of the possible Eggman attack earlier tonight. Here with me now is world-famous Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic?"

"What's up?"

"Can you tell us what happened here?"

"Well it was actually pretty funny; that Master Emerald thing from Angel Island did all this."

"You mean to say that the Master Emerald crashed into the side of this building, and not an EggMissile?"

"Yep, it really was the Master Emerald."

"Was anybody hurt inside? Any casualties or injuries?" She asked this eagerly, as if dearly hoping that someone was hideously maimed.

"Nope, not that I saw. Just this kiddo right here," he raised the human's arm up a bit to get the cameraman's attention, since the kid was too short to be seen in the frame. "I've gotta get him to the hospital soon, he's got a bump on his head."

"You're not going to have the paramedics take him to the hospital?"

"Nah, I promised I'd help him find his mom myself. Speaking of which, we should probably go now, she's probably getting worried."

Scarlett turned back to the camera, shielding her expression of irritation of a boring news report with her plastic surgery. "You heard it here folks. Seems like everything is under control thanks to The Blue Blur, but we'll be checking in every ten minutes for more developments Now back to Adam in the studio." The camera man signaled that they were off the air. Scarlett grumbled. "Not one of our better stories. Sonic, you couldn't have jazzed that up a bit? A giant glowing rock hitting an office building isn't as exciting as... say...'a mysterious new Chaos-driven missile fired from one of Eggman's bases--'"

"I may be a lot of things," Sonic interrupted, "but a liar isn't one of them."

"You're stubborn, that's what you are." Scarlett pouted. "Oh, don't give me that look. Go on, get that runt of yours to his parents or whatever." She snapped her fingers at the cameraman. "Jose, get me a corndog."

Sonic rolled his eyes. This was the love-hate relationship he had with the human media. Sure, he basked in the golden glow of their attention, eagerly accepting interviews on talk shows and giving anti-drug speeches to schools. But that was as far as he'd go in terms of interacting with the humans. Those self-serving, preening, greedy, hairless Gorillas. Alright, alright. That was just the stereotype of humans, and Sonic didn't like reinforcing stereotypes (even if all stereotypes were grounded in some form of truth). But at the same time, it was a bit hypocritical to be so prejudiced towards humans. Animals had issues too. Just look at Shadow, for crying out loud. Plus, Sonic actively looked for human attention, didn't he?

He reflected on this for a moment; as much as he disliked humans, his want of their attention outweighed the negative feelings he had for them, and had outweighed those feelings enough for him to keep going back to his human fans. It all boiled down to attention. He craved it. And he realized now that he didn't care who he received attention from.

He looked down at the kid. Would he end up growing up to be the usual, jerky, conceited human adult too?

Sonic tugged on the kid's arm lightly and steered him out of the crowd. To deter any stalkers from the mob, he quickly took a shortcut down a fenced-off alley, holding a barrier of chain link fence for the human to get past. The alley opened up on the street on the other side of the block.

"Sorry about that. That's one of the only ways I can make money, so when I get called up to do stuff like that, I gotta do it. Not as glamorous as it looks to be a superhero, is it?" The kid didn't answer, preoccupied with keeping up with Sonic's pace. "So...um...the hospital's not too far away. I can run pretty fast, as I'm sure you already know, but there's a chance that moving _that_ fast could make your head injury worse, or something. I don't know, I'm not a doctor. It'd be better if we walked." Sonic said.

The boy turned up his head to look at him, making his bangs fall away from his eyes. "Thanks," he said.

Sonic blinked. It wasn't the fact that the kid had spoken that startled him; it was his eye color. The kid's eyes were a dewy, highlighter green, almost phosphorescent in the artificial glow of the streetlights. The kid had never actually looked up at him in the eye, so Sonic hadn't noticed before.

"You're welcome? Do you wear contacts or something?" Sonic asked.

The kid frowned. "No, why?"

"No reason."

They walked to the hospital without incident. The building was tall and wide, with a small cement courtyard and a fountain out front. Sonic led him in through the automatic doors to the front desk. Heads turned when he entered, as usual, but Sonic was able to dial back his attention-seeking instincts. The waiting room was white and sterile looking, with gray padded chairs lined up in rows, and small tables with out-of-date magazines scattered among them. The room was half-filled with a mixture of humans and Animals of varying medical problems, some with bloody noses, some with sprained limbs, and even a Fox with a broken tail.

"Alright," Sonic said. "I have to go now. Just walk up to the lady at the front desk and tell her that your hurt and you can't find your mommy, okay?"

"You can't go up there with me?" The boy asked.

"I've got some grown-up things to do."

In truth, Sonic didn't want to stay longer than he had to in part because he knew he was being tailed by photographers. The kid seemed a little shaken at all the flashing cameras and lights from the news crew a few minutes ago, and probably wouldn't appreciate being caught in the crossfire of a paparazzi storm.

"Oh, okay." The kid easily bought the fib. "Um....thanks again for helping me."

"Sure, no prob." Sonic said, clapping his back. "You even got to be on TV with me."

Without a backward glance, he left the kid standing there in the middle of the waiting room and exited the building. Wanting to rid his lungs of the sickly, stale hospital air, he breathed in and out deeply, hoping that he hadn't caught anything from the Buffalo that had coughed in his direction as he left. He walked down the concrete steps and sat on the bottom of them, leaning back and letting his elbows rest on the step below his shoulders. As soon as he heard paparazzi coming, he'd high-tail it out of the area. If he left the hospital too soon, then the paparazzi wouldn't know that he'd left yet, and bombard that kid with questions. This was the right thing to do by leaving him there unattended, wasn't it?

He sniffed, and grimaced as a taxi drove past, expelling an unusual amount of exhaust. Sonic expected it to continue driving, but it slowed down and began to pull up towards the curb. The cab's door opened as he stood up to escape the fumes from the taxi's tailpipe, gaped openly when he realized who the passenger was, and quickly turned around to run. A paparazzi ambush was welcome when compared to--

"Sonic!" Amy yelled, hopping over the cab to reach him before he could put too much distance between them. Her pink bangs flared back from her forehead as she quickly closed the gap between them, locking her arms around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder. "Thank goodness I'm not too late! I was afraid that taxi was gonna be too slow, and--"

"Why are you back in town?" Sonic grunted, Amy's grip restricting the inflation of his lungs. "I thought you were on vacation?!"

"I was, silly. But a horrible storm hit the Diamond Islands while I was there, didn't you hear? A freak hurricane just shows up out of nowhere and nearly blows us all into the ocean, but Tails was able to show up in his new _Blue Tsunami _and get all of us out of there before things started getting serious."

"_Blue Tsunami_?"

"Yeah, his new submarine. He's been working on it for ages. Not that you'd know, considering you never spend time with him any more." She took this opportunity to remove her hands from Sonic and place them on her hips in a disdainful pose. "Always busy with your book signings or public speeches or pep rallies. You always act so surprised to see me, despite the fact that you're always making a scene where ever you go. That's how I found you tonight; I was walking past a television store a few blocks from here, and on one of the TVs in the display was you on the news with that funny little human boy. You said you'd take him to the nearest hospital, so I called a cab and rushed over here. Speaking of which," She looked around behind Sonic as if he was hiding something. "Where is the kid? Did you find his mommy?"

"Well, no, I left him there in the waiting room to get help from the receptionist."

"You did _what__!?_" she rounded on him. "Sonic, how is that any way for the future father of my children to act, just abandoning the poor kid there?"

"...Wait, I'm still stuck on the whole 'future father' thing—hey!"

Amy grabbed Sonic by the elbow and half-dragged him back through the automatic doors of the hospital, despite his heel digging into the ground to slow her down.

"Amy, come on, he doesn't need your help. No one does, to be honest, but--"

"You're gonna see to it that kid finds his mommy. You're a hero, that's your job. Besides, he was hurt, wasn't he? Poor little thing's probably traumatized, all scared and alone without his mama or a friendly smile or anything. Just a room of gross old sick people."

One of the injured people nearest to her snorted, annoyed.

"Amy, please," Sonic pleaded. "He's fine. You're blowing this out of proportion. You're acting like he's an orphan with missing limbs and a terminal illness--" He stopped himself. Isn't this exactly what Scarlett had said earlier? _'I said _no_ to reporting a story on a truckfull of abandoned orphaned children in favor of appearing on a talk show last week...' _A twinge of guilt reverberated in his stomach like a guitar string.

"For all you know, he _could_ be an orphan with a terminal illness." Amy gasped, having spotted the human across the room, and rushed over to him, weaving between the chairs and gripping him in a tight hug. "It's okay now, little guy. I'm gonna help you find your momma and you'll be safe and sound in no time!"

"Amy, that's the wrong kid."

"Oh. Whoops. Sorry." A scowl from the blonde boy's real mother prompted Amy to quickly let him go, but quickly recovered when she spotted the real kid sitting a few seats away, filling out a clipboard of past health issues and contact information, his bangs hanging over his face.

"Hi little guy, what's your name?"

Sonic clapped a hand to his face. The same sort of thing happened with Amy when she "saved" a puppy from an animal shelter and fed it nothing but chocolate for two days to "help it get better." Needless to say, it did much more harm than good. She couldn't pass by any cute, small, defenseless creature without insisting on taking it home and making it miserable.

"I'm Tyler." the kid said, looking up at her.

"What'cha got there, Tyler?" Amy asked.

"I don't know, I can't read what it's supposed to be. The lady over there at the big desk told me to write on it while she made a few calls, so I drew a camel on it."

"And that's a very pretty camel."

"Thank you. You're very pretty too. Are you with him?" Tyler asked, pointing at Sonic.

"Oh yes," Amy gushed. "We're a couple, and we plan on getting engaged soon."

Sonic blanched. "Wait, what--?"

"Oh okay. Have fun with that." Tyler smiled and turned back to his clipboard to finish his doodle.

"So...have you found a way to get to your mommy yet?" Amy asked.

"Not yet. She got a new cell phone so I don't have her new number, and I just moved to a new apartment, so I don't know my address or phone number. So the lady behind the desk told me to wait while she called the police to help me."

Amy snorted. "The police? Oh sweetie, they're no help, trust me. Here," she grabbed his hand and yanked him out of his seat. "You should come home with Sonic and I. I've got more than enough room at my place, and my friend Tails has a huge database on all sorts of people. I'm sure your mommy's listed in there with her phone number."

Tyler was torn (almost literally, Amy had nearly ripped off his arm when she pulled him out of his chair). He knew going with strangers was a bad idea, but was she really a dangerous person if she was dating Sonic? Tyler didn't know who this "Tails" person was, but the way the pink Hedgehog described him seemed to imply that he'd get home that much faster.

"Um...I guess I could go with you, if you want me to--"Tyler started, but Sonic cut him off.

"Amy, stop. This is ridiculous. You can't even take care of a _goldfish_ for a day. One overnight stay with you, and I would bet that this kid goes belly-up just like Mister Bubbles. "

"Now you just ignore him, Tyler," Amy said, tugging Tyler along like a dog on a leash. "You've had a rough day, and all you need now is a cup of hot chocolate and a movie while Tails and I get together and call your mommy."

"Can I have marshmallows in it?" Tyler asked excitedly.

Sonic groaned. The kid wouldn't last a day.

* * *

_**Oh no! Brice! What have you done!?! Why must you contaminate this story with a filthy Mary Sue!?!? Why must we have ANOTHER Chris Thorndyke!?!?**_

_**Well.**_

_**Who says that Tyler is an original character? I'msosneakylololol.**_

_**Review.**_

_** Bonus points if you can tell me what the bodiless black thing is in the beginning of the chapter. **_


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